On March 16th at the Kowloon Shangri-La in Hong Kong, Amber Road (formerly ecVision) hosted the second annual industry event focusing on Global Testing and Compliance Complexity. Following the first of its kind, SourceTrends 2015 brought together leaders from the retail industry’s top sourcing and supply chain organizations, service providers and trade associations representing the United States, Asia and Europe. This all-day seminar discussed the latest trends and solutions surrounding the business challenges in global retailing.

Today’s Chief Supply Chain Officer (CSCO) is beset by pressures on all fronts, struggling to understand and meet customer demands for cheaper, faster and efficient logistic processes from source to final delivery to reach prescriptive optimization. Under omni-channel competitive pressures, web and mobile orders tendered by 2PM must be fulfilled and shipped in the same day and home delivered within no more than 2 days, with 61% of companies shipping straight to the end customer or bypassing the store or DC. These growing B2C fulfill-to-deliver flows add shipping and labor costs and, if not optimized, impact margins and profitability. Staying competitive and maintaining profitability under these conditions requires a rethinking of the inventory and fulfillment flow from source to end consumer.

As companies continue to look to international markets as a means to grow top line revenues and reduce sourcing costs, international trade has boomed. Unfortunately, with more customers and suppliers spread across more geographies, global compliance and international supply chain challenges have increased. Luckily, global trade management (GTM) has emerged as a viable solution to address these global complexities.

According to a recent study from Accenture, 97% of executives reported having an understanding of how big data analytics can benefit their supply chain, yet only 17% reported utilizing big data in one or more supply chain functions.

There is no such thing as a small supply chain disruption, according to an annual report from Resilinc. These disruptions can impact your visibility into the supply chain, among other things. SupplyChainBrain reports the findings of the EventWatch Top 5 Supply Chain Disruption Events of 2014:

Making the choice to buy trade automation software is one of the trickier decisions trade professionals face. Not only is there the decision about whether or not to invest in a system, but also which vendor to use. The landscape of software providers can be confusing, to say the least.

Luckily there are definable steps a company can take to make choosing a GTM software vendor easier and more successful. It starts with a company looking internally, to determine its compliance and trade management needs, and also what type of relationship it wants with its technology partner.

According to a recent Reuters article, Commerzbank AG, Germany’s second largest lender, has been ordered to pay $1.45 billion to U.S. authorities. This large fine comes after Commerzbank was accused of laundering money through the United States financial system on behalf of black-listed entities – a big mistake in the eyes of U.S. prosecutors. This signifies the importance U.S. Officials put on restricted party screening and strict compliance with these regulations.

On March 9, 2015, President Obama signed a new Executive Order blocking property and suspending entry of certain persons contributing to the “erosion of human rights” in Venezuela. The sanctions are in response to the Venezuelan Government’s "persecution of political opponents, curtailment of press freedoms, human rights violations and abuses in response to anti-government protests.” As a result, travel and trade compliance restrictions have been put in place against seven specific Venezuelan government officials because they "constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States."

A leader in specialty hardwood flooring is facing strong allegations of excess use of formaldehyde, a known cancer-causing chemical. The company’s low-cost laminate flooring made in China is under investigation after 60 Minutes reported very concrete evidence against the company’s non-compliance with California’s Health and Safety Standards.

Terrible news came in from Dhaka, Bangladesh last month as a factory erupted in flames fueled by flammable chemicals, leaving 13 factory workers dead and adding to the already immense death toll in the thousands over the last five years from factory incidents. The collapse of Rana Plaza and the factory fire of Tazreen in 2012 highlights the countless incidents in which factories have not met the required building standards capable of preventing these fatal incidents.